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Tea Party Patriots to Hand out $1 Million for Election Spending

Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Tea Party Patriots, which says it
is the largest Tea Party organization, plans to distribute $1
million in grants to local affiliates who are working to
influence the Nov. 2 congressional elections.

The $1 million is from an anonymous donor and can’t be used
to directly support any candidate, organizers said at a news
conference in Washington today. Instead, the funds can be used
to help get voters to the polls and promote the Tea Party
principles of limited government and lower taxes, they said.

The various groups that make up the Tea Party movement have
succeeded in toppling politicians favored by Republican Party
officials in some of this year’s nominating contests. Among the
candidates who benefited from Tea Party support in winning
Republican primaries for U.S. Senate seats are Republicans
Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Rand Paul in Kentucky.

“The people who swing these elections are people on the
ground,” said Mark Meckler, co-founder and national coordinator
of Tea Party Patriots, which says it has more than 2,800
affiliated organizations and 15 million supporters in the U.S.
Meckler said his group will accept grant proposals until Sept.
26 and plans to distribute all the funds by Oct. 4.

Unlike the Tea Party Express, the Patriots group doesn’t
give money directly to candidates or political action
committees. It is organized as a nonprofit issue advocacy group
and therefore doesn’t have to disclose its donors.